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Police officers who arrested an axe-wielding thug as he threatened to ‘kill a copper’ have been recognised for their bravery.

PCs Dan Cooper and Andy Reynes were called to a home in Hounslow West, near the Beavers estate, after reports were made of an armed man holding his wife and daughter captive.

When PC Cooper tried to kick down the door after hearing screams from inside, an axe came chopping at him, narrowly missing his chest.

The crazed hostage-taker continued swinging the weapon and shouting death threats, but the duo, who are both members of Hounslow Police’s emergency response team, were eventually able to free the captives and restrain him after using CS spray.

When police searched the back garden later that day, August 20, 2012, they found an angle-grinder which he had been using to sharpen his axe.

PC Cooper said: “The man was shouting death threats, saying how he would kill the first copper through the door and he’d been sharpening his axe! We managed to push him back using CS spray and get to his wife and daughter, who were cowering in the corner.

“As we went towards him, he threw the axe at us and it went whizzing past my knee, but we were able to restrain him. It was only the next day I thought ‘that was a bit close’.”

PC Cooper added that it was probably the scariest moment of his time on the force but not the hardest.

That, he said, was being the first officer on the scene at the death of baby Tommy Hollis, who was killed by a falling lamppost in Chiswick in 2010.

Both constables were nominated in the national Police Bravery Awards, presented on October 17, though they failed to win the top award.

John Tully, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said: “Here we have an example of two officers going about their daily duties, being faced with a daunting incident, putting any thoughts of their own safety to one side and acting swiftly to resolve a potentially life-threatening situation. Their brave actions clearly prevented serious injury or loss of life.”

Taher Ibrahim, of Wilton Road, Hounslow, admitted affray and was given 16-months jail, suspended for two years, when he appeared at the Old Bailey on March 15.